'is nu . . . swa hit no wære' - This line does not have as many syllables as is typical. Klinck suggests this is a deliberate poetic effect, other editors emend. Though ASPR notes that 'a confident reconstruction is hardly possible', others are not so shy. M-R print is nu swa hit næfre wære, while Leslie and Muir is nu fornumen swa hit no wære ('it is now taken away as if it never were').